MATTHEW ROBINSON

Weblog: Giving insight into online poker

Things to learn in order for a profitable 2010

HERE we are in 2010.

Last year seems like a lifetime away, especially if you, like me, are still nursing the mother of all hangovers.

I can still hear Auld Lang Syne ringing in my ears and my arms are still aching from the amount of hands I shook, sincerely wishing people I've never met before, and will never meet again, a Happy New Year.

As the new year begins it's fitting for me to declare my new
year poker resolutions. It's a tough task to fit them all in to 300 words, as there's probably a lot I could improve on, but here goes:

1. Go with my instincts. It's a great tool in your armoury and a
lot of players swear by it. Some top names have been seen to lay
down monsters because they were provided with evidence to
suggest they were beaten, or because a red flag from within
started waving. Go with your gut, you won't be disappointed.

2. Don't pay off on the river when you're beaten. It happens
a lot - you have a strong hand until the river and suddenly a
card hits that helped your opponent. When he bets £200 into a
£1,200 pot, it's for a reason. He knows you know he knows, but
don't pay him off because of the odds. Fold.

3. Learn more variations of the game. Poker is such a vague
term - do you mean Stud, Hold Em, Omaha? There's no harm in
testing the water in each variation, as it will give you a better understanding of the game. Even within Hold Em there is No Limit, Limit and Pot Limit - all with differing strategies needed to succeed.

With that I bid farewell to 2009 and wish all of you the
best of luck on the tables this year. Shuffle up and deal.